The  Wallabout 
Prison  Ships 


1776-1783 


By  EUGENE  L.  ARMBRUSTER 


THE   WALLABOUT 
PRISON   SHIPS 


1776-1783 


BY 

EUGENE    L.    ARMBRUSTER 

u 


Edition  limited  to  300  copies, 

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of  which  this  is  No.... 


Pri  ce    $  2.00 

NEW  YORK 
1920 


A  7 


Copyright   1920 

by 
Eugene   L.    Armbruster 


Published 
November   24th,    1920 


i 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Introduction      .          .          .          .          .          .  -4 

The  Navy              ......  5 

Prisoners  in  Time  of    Dire   Need 

The   Prison   Ships          .          .          .          .          .  14 

Prisoners  in   England         .          .          .          .  23 

Conclusion    .......  24 

Appendix  .......      28 


586705 


INTRODUCTION 

Research  work  in  local  history,  extended  over  a  period 
of  more  than  a  fourth  of  a  century,  has  often  brought  before 
the  writer  contradictory  statements  regarding  the  Wallabout 
Prisonships.  During  all  these  years,  whenever  there  had  been 
occasion  to  mention  Wallabout  Bay,  he  disposed  of  the  matter 
by  stating  "this  is  the  place  where  the  Prison-ships  were  sta 
tioned  during  the  Revolutionary  War."  Finally,  however,  his 
interest  was  aroused  by  reading  again  and  again  the  state 
ments  of  other  writers,  and  he  set  out  to  search  among  the 
oldest  available  sources  for  original  records.  Not  taking  the 
judgment  of  later  writers,  he  gathered  the  fragments,  in  a 
similar  way  as  they  had  done,  hoping  thus  to  be  enabled  to 
get  a  clearer  vision  of  the  case.  He  soon  found  that  the  earlier 
writers  could  not  be  considered  impartial,  as  their  families, 
almost  without  an  exception,  had  had  members  among  the 
prisoners  in  the  New  York  City  Prisons  or  else  on  these 
Prison  ships.  They  were  human  and  could  not  forget  the 
misery  which  their  kinsmen  had  endured.  But  they  were 
also  honest  enough  to  mention  such  facts  which  would  throw 
kindlier  lights  upon  this  dark  scene,  and,  further,  often 
expressed  their  own  doubts  as  to  the  correctness  of  some 
statements,  which  they  were  forced  to  incorporate  into  their 
narratives.  As  these  writers,  without  exception,  have  con 
demned  the  Prison  ships,  it  would  be  wasting  time  to  quote 
each  one  separately.  After  almost  one  and  a  half  centuries 
have  since  rolled  by,  it  may  be  well  to  look  into  the  case  once 
more,  from  our  20th  century  point  of  view,  making  use  of  all 
sources  now  at  our  command.  We  may  today  better  under 
stand  the  causes  of  some  happenings  which  appeared  to  the 
unfortunate  prisoners  to  be  intended  cruelty.  We  further 
have  the  benefit  of  the  records  compiled  in  later  years,  scanty 
though  they  be. 


THE    NAVY 

[J.  Fenimore  Cooper's  Naval  History]  :     "The  documents 
connected  with  the  early  history  of  the  American  Navy  were 
never  kept  with  sufficient  method  and  the  few  that  did  exist 
have  become  much  scattered  and  lost  in  consequence  of  there 
having  been  no  regular   Navy   Department,  the  authority  of 
this  branch  of  the  government  having  been  exercised  through 
out  the  whole  war  by  Committees  and  Boards,  the  members 
of  which  have  probably  retained  many  documents  of  interest  as 
vouchers  to  authenticate  their  own  proceedings.  Among  other 
defects  it  has  become  impossible  to  establish,  in  all   cases, 
who  did  and  who  did  not  actually  serve  in  the  Marine  of  the 
United  States,  officers  so  frequently  passing  from  the  Priva 
teers  into  the  public  vessels,  and  from  the  public  vessels  to 
the  Privateers,  as  to  leave  this  important  branch  of  our  subject 
involved  in  much  obscurity.     The  officers  in  the  Navy  of  the 
Confederation    also    derived    their    authority    from    different 
sources,  a  circumstance  which  adds  to  the  difficulties.     In  a 
good  many  instances  Congress  made   the  appointments ;   subse 
quently     the     Marine     Committee    possessed     this     power    and 
finally  even  the  commanders  of  squadrons  and  ships  were  put 
in  possession  of  blank  commissions  to  be  filled  at  their  discre 
tion.    The  men  who  acted  under  the  authority  of  Washington 
at  the  commencement  of  the  war  were  not  in  the  Navy,  as 
some  of  these  men  were  later  rewarded  ranks  in  the  service. 
Congress   passed   a   resolution    on   October    13,    1775,    which 
directed  a  Committee  of  Three  to  fit  out  two  swift  sailing  ves 
sels  of  10  and  14  guns  respectively  to  intercept  the  British  trans 
ports  intended  for  the  Army  at  Boston.     On  October  30,  this 
committee  was  increased  to  seven,  and  two  ships  of  20  and  36 
guns  respectively  were  ordered  to  be  provided.     In   December, 
1775,  Congress  ordered  thirteen  ships  to  be  built  by  the  Colo 
nies,  and  the  Marine  Committee  was  increased  so  as  to  have 
one   member   for   each   colony.     A   Continental    Navy    Board 
was  established  in  November,  1776;  a  Board  of  Admiralty  was 
established  in  October,  1779.     A  Secretary  of  the  Navy  was 


chosen  in  February,  1781.  An  Agent  of  the  Marine  was 
appointed  in  August,  1781,  who  had  full  control  of  the  service/' 
(The  Navy  Department  was  not  established  until  1797.) 

"In  June,  1776,  American  cruisers  captured  about  500 
British  soldiers  upon  transports;  this  not  only  weakened  the 
enemy's  army,  but  also  checked  his  intention  of  treating 
American  prisoners  as  rebels,  by  giving  the  colonists  the 
means  of  retaliation,  as  well  as  of  exchange.  English  accounts 
state  that  near  a  hundred  privateers  had  been  fitted  out  in 
New  England  alone  in  the  first  two  years  of  the  war,  and  the 
British  seamen  employed  against  the  United  States  are  said 
to  have  been  26,000.  The  Remembrancer,  an  English  work  of 
merit,  published  a  list  of  English  vessels  taken  by  American 
cruisers  in  1776,  in  all  342,  of  which  number  44  were  recap 
tured,  18  released  and  4  burned.  The  Americans  lost  many 
privateers  and  merchantmen  from  time  to  time,  and  the  war 
became  very  destructive  for  both  sides.  The  British  lost  467 
sail  of  merchantmen  during  1777,  though  they  kept  a  force  of 
about  70  men-of-war  along  the  American  coast.  Many 
American  Privateers  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  British,  and  a 
scarcity  of  men  began  to  be  felt  in  consequence  of  the  numbers 
detained  in  English  prisons.  In  1778  the  war  broke  out 
between  England  and  France,  and  a  French  fleet  appeared  in 
July  in  the  American  seas  and  relieved  the  United  States 
greatly.  The  British  destroyed  six  of  their  ships  near  New 
port  to  prevent  their  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  French. 
(England  also  declared  war  on  Holland  at  the  end  of  the  year 
1780.)  In  the  summer  of  1776  the  nautical  enterprise  of  the 
country  had  been  let  loose  upon  the  British  commerce.  Some 
thing  like  800  British  sail  of  merchantmen  were  captured  dur 
ing  the  first  two  years  of  privateering;  then  the  effort  of  the 
Americans  necessarily  lessened,  while  the  precaution  of  the 
British  increased.  Owing  to  the  want  of  ships  in  the  Navy 
many  officers  of  the  Navy  were  compelled  to  seek  service  in 
the  Privateers." 

The  British  regarded  the  American  colonies  as  their 
rebellious  colonies.  The  damage  done  by  the  Privateersmen 
to  the  British  ships  was  enormous,  and  the  Britons  could  at 


all  times  easier  endure  anything  else  than  interference  with 
their  supremacy  upon  the  seas.  Nearly  all  wars  carried  on 
by  that  country  were  based  upon  the  principle  that  England 
must  rule  the  seas,  and  whoever  interferes  with  that  principle 
is  their  bitter  foe,  and  will  always  be  treated  as  such.  Hence 
the  hatred  of  small  minds  among  the  British  officials  against 
the  unfortunate  crews  of  American  Privateersmen  who  fell 
into  their  hands  and  were  sent  to  the  prison  ships. 

PRISONERS    IN    TIME    OF    DIRE   WANT 

The  crews  of  these  Privateersmen  were  mostly  healthy 
young  men  from  the  New  England  colonies,  but  food  was 
scarce  on  land  and  consequently  also  on  board  of  ships.  The 
health  of  these  men  was  soon  undermined,  after  they  became 
located  in  the  prison  ships. 

[Jones'  New  York  during  the  Revolution,  I,  p.  599,  from 
Force,  5th  Series,  Vol.  I,  p.  835]  :  "Washington  wrote  on 
August  9,  1776,  to  the  President  of  Congress  regarding  the 
Army  :  We  have  fit  for  duty  10,514  men ;  sick,  present,  3,039 ; 
sick,  absent,  629;  in  command,  2,946;  on  furlough,  97;  total, 
17,225.  Every  day  more  or  less  are  taken  down.  These  things 
are  melancholy,  but  they  are  nevertheless  true.  I  hope  for 
better." 

[Paul  Allen's  American  Revolution,  Vol.  II,  p.  212]  :  "The 
American  soldiers  in  active  service  are  described  as  having 
been  at  one  period  without  clothes  and  shoes  and  covers  to  lie 
on.  Pierre  Van  Cortland  writes  under  January  30,  1780,  to 
the  Committee  of  Rombout  Precinct  that  the  troops  of  the  New 
York  lines  are  almost  destitute  of  shirts.  Washington  writes : 
The  soldiers  eat  every  kind  of  horse  food  but  hay.  Clothing 
became  so  scarce  in  the  Highlands  that  a  building  was  erected 
at  Fishkill  as  a  retreat  for  naked  men.  Soldiers  patched  their 
clothes  until  patches  and  clothes  both  gave  out,  and  they  were 
sent  to  this  retreat.  The  army  suffered  extreme  privation 
during  the  winter  of  1779-80." 

The  shortage  in  everything  on  the  American  side  was 
paralleled  by  a  shortage  on  the  British  side.  The  British  asked 

7 


Washington  to  exchange  prisoners.  Congress  insisted  that 
its  resolution  should  be  complied  with.  Washington  said: 
"It  may  be  thought  contrary  to  our  interest  to  go  into  an 
exchange,  as  the  enemy  would  derive  more  immediate  advan 
tage  from  it  than  we  should.  I  cannot  doubt  that  Congress 
will  authorize  me  through  commissioners  to  settle  a  cartel, 
any  resolutions  heretofore  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding." 

[Jones'  New  York  during  the  Revolution,  Vol.  II,  p.  425 ; 
from  Force's  American  Archives,  5th  Series,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  838]  : 
"The  known  shortage  of  provisions  in  New  York  during  No 
vember  and  December,  1776,  and  January  and  February,  1777, 
from  which  the  British  Army  suffered,  had  a  good  deal  to  do 
with  the  famine  and  mortality  of  the  prisoners  of  war  at  that 
period.  Washington  himself  attributes  them  to  this  cause  in 
a  letter  to  Col.  Atlee." 

[Jones'  New  York  during  the  Revolution,  Vol.  II,  p.  425 ; 
from  Force's  American  Archives,  5th  Series,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  858]  : 
"Provisions  in  general  were  scarce  and  dear,  flour  in  particular, 
and  all  kinds  of  vegetables,  that  our  officers  who  are  prisoners 
with  the  enemy  are  walking  about,  but  the  soldiers  are  closely 
confined  and  allowed  but  half  allowances,  that  the  prisoners 
were  very  sickly  and  died  fast,  is  the  testimony  of  David  Hunt 
of  Westchester,  a  known  friend  to  America,  as  taken  and 
reported  by  General  McDougal  on  November  26,  1776,  four 
days  previous  to  which  he  had  left  New  York." 

[Stiles'  History  of  Brooklyn,  Vol.  I,  p.  341]  says  under 
March,  1779:  "Flour  exhausted.  Hessians  at  Brooklyn 
received  damaged  oatmeal.  The  British  were  expected  to 
surrender  in  order  to  escape  starvation,  when  supply  ships 
arrived.  Fuel  always  very  scarce." 

[Valentine's  New  York  Common  Council  Manual,  1853, 
p.  464]  :  "The  winter  of  1780  was  so  intensely  cold  that  two 
cakes  of  ice  completely  closed  the  North  River  from  Powle's 
Hook  Ferry  to  that  of  Cortlandt  Street.  Hundreds  of  persons 
crossed  daily ;  artillery,  sleighs  with  provisions  and  stores  of 
all  kinds  passed  the  bridge  of  ice.  It  continued  some  con- 
considerable  time.  Governor  Tryon  caused  the  same  to  be 
measured  and  found  the  North  River  in  that  place  2,000  yards 

wide." 

8 


[Onderdonck's  Revolutionary  Incidents  of  Suffolk  Co. 
and  Kings  Co.,  p.  233]  :  "December,  1781,  Washington  said: 
'For  two  years  past  no  complaints  have  been  made  of  the  treat 
ment  of  land  prisoners  in  New  York.  The  suffering  of  seamen 
for  some  time  past  arises  mostly  from  the  want  of  a  general 
regulation,  that  no  American  Privateersmen  should  set  their 
prisoners  free,  whereas  now  the  British  prisoners  enter  the 
American  service  or  are  allowed  to  escape,  so  that  the  balance 
of  prisoners  is  against  the  Americans.'  " 

Washington  had  been  compelled,  a  year  earlier,  to  decline 
the  exchange  of  prisoners.  When  the  British  had  offered  to 
send  in  exchange  for  British  seamen,  American  Naval  Prison 
ers,  there  were  no  British  seamen  at  hand,  and  when  they 
offered  to  take  British  soldiers  instead,  Washington  said, 
though  urged  by  humanity,  such  exchange  was  not  politic. 
It  would  give  force  to  the  British  and  add  but  little  to  their 
own,  few  of  the  American  Prisoners  belonging  to  the  Army 
and  the  enlistment  of  those  who  did,  nearly  being  expired. 
Again,  in  1782  he  had  to  refuse  such  offer,  saying  few  or  none 
of  the  Naval  Prisoners  in  New  York  belonged  to  the  Conti 
nental  service.  About  that  time  he  communicated  with  the 
British  Admiral  Digby,  trying  to  improve  the  conditions  of 
these  prisoners.  He  said :  "I  am  informed  that  the  principal 
complaint  is  that  of  their  being  crowded,  especially  at  this 
season  (July)  in  great  numbers  on  board  of  foul  and  infectious 
Prison  ships,  where  disease  and  death  are  almost  inevitable." 
Lewis  Pintard  was  appointed  to  look  after  the  welfare  of  the 
Prisoners,  Congress  furnishing  him  with  some  funds  and  he 
adding  his  own  funds  until  he  became  embarrassed.  His  worl; 
was  continued  by  his  nephew,  John  Pintard. 

[Dunlap's  History  of  New  York,  Vol.  II,  p.  239]  :  "Jan 
uary  29,  1781,  David  Sprout,  Commissary  of  Naval  Prisoners 
in  North  America,  in  a  letter  to  Abraham  Skinner,  the  Ameri 
can  Commissary  of  Prisoners,  defends  the  treatment  aboard 
the  Prison  ships,  acknowledging  that  very  many  of  the  Prison 
ers  are  sick  and  dying,  etc.,  etc.  He  says  he  has  offered  to 
exchange  Prisoners,  man  for  man,  for  as  many  as  shall  be 
sent  within  the  British  lines." 


[Stiles'  History  of  Brooklyn,  Vol.  I,  p.  356]  :  "British 
General  permitted  Prisoners  on  the  Jersey  in  1782  to  petition 
Washington  for  help.  The  Prisoners  promised,  if  their  release 
could  be  procured,  they  would  gladly  enter  the  American 
Army  and  serve  during  the  remainder  of  the  war  as  soldiers." 
Answer,  ibid,  p.  357:  "The  officers  of  the  General  Govern 
ment  only  took  charge  of  those  seamen  who  were  captured 
by  the  vessels  in  the  service,  and  therefore  had  not  enough 
seamen  to  give  in  exchange." 

[Onderdonck's  Rev.  Inc.,  Suffolk  Co.  and  Kings  Co., 
p.  240]  :  Under  June  1,  1782,  British  Commissary  Sproat 
(or  Sprout)  wrote  to  the  American  Commissary  Skinner,  in 
forming  him,  by  order  of  Admiral  Digby,  that  "the  very  great 
increase  of  Prisoners  and  the  heat  of  the  weather  now  baffles 
all  our  care  and  attention  to  keep  them  healthy.  Five  ships 
have  been  taken  up  for  their  reception  to  prevent  their  being 
crowded,  and  a  great  number  permitted  to  go  on  parole.  In 
winter  and  during  cold  weather  they  lived  comfortably,  being 
supplied  with  warm  clothing,  blankets,  etc.,  purchased  with 
the  money  I  collected  from  the  charitable  in  the  city,  but  now 
the  weather  requires  a  fresh  supply,  something  light  and  suit 
able  for  the  season,  for  which  you  will  be  pleased  to  make  the 
necessary  provision,  as  it  is  impossible  for  them  to  be  healthy 
in  the  rags  they  now  wear,  without  a  single  shift  of  clothing 
to  keep  them  clean."  Skinner  replied  under  June  9:  "From 
the  present  situation  of  the  American  Naval  Prisoners  on 
board  your  Prison  ship,  I  am  induced  to  propose  to  you  the 
exchange  of  as  many  of  them  as  I  can  give  you  British  Naval 
Prisoners  for,  leaving  the  balance  already  due  you  to  be  paid 
when  in  our  power.  (Upwards  of  1,300  Naval  Prisoners  have 
been  sent  more  than  we  have  received.)  We  are  unable  at 
present  to  give  you  seamen  for  seamen,  and  thereby  relieve 
the  Prison  ships  of  their  dreadful  burden;  but  it  ought  to  be 
remembered  that  there  is  a  large  balance  (Sproat  says  only 
245. — Ed.)  of  British  soldiers  due  the  U.  S.  since  February 
last,  and  we  may  be  disposed  to  place  the  British  soldiers  in 
our  possession  in  as  disagreeable  a  situation  as  the  men  are 
on  board  the  Prison  ships."  Sproat  replies  June  9,  and  refuses 
a  partial  exchange. 


Washington  said :  "Exchanging  seamen  for  soldiers  was 
contrary  to  the  original  agreement.  Officers  should  be  ex 
changed  for  officers,  soldiers  for  soldiers,  seamen  for  seamen, 
and  citizens  for  citizens.  It  would  be  contrary  to  the  practice 
of  other  nations  and  the  soundest  policy,  by  giving  the  enemy 
a  great  and  permanent  strength.  But  as  the  misery  and  mor 
tality  which  prevailed  among  the  Naval  Prisoners  was  pro 
duced  almost  entirely  by  the  mode  of  confinement,  being 
closely  crowded  in  infectious  ships,  he  would  write  to  Admiral 
Digby,  for  it  is  preposterously  cruel,  he  said,  to  confine  800 
men  in  one  ship  at  this  sultry  season.  We  have  the  means 
of  retaliation  in  our  hands,  which  we  should  not  hesitate  to 
use,  by  confining  the  land  prisoners  with  as  much  severity  as 
our  seamen  are  held. 

[Jones'  New  York  During  the  Revolution,  Vol.  I,  p.  351.] 
Judge  Jones  blames  Joshua  Loring,  the  American  Commissary 
of  Prisoners,  for  the  death  of  many  American  Prisoners,  say 
ing  that  he  appropriated  two-thirds  of  the  rations,  actually 
starving  300  before  an  exchange  took  place  in  February,  1777. 
Hundreds  were  so  enfeebled  that  numbers  died  when  released 
and  reached  their  homes,  or  even  on  their  way  home. 

[Watson's  Annals  of  New  York,  p.  332]  :  "Our  officers, 
it  seems,  but  rarely  visited  their  countrymen  prisoners,  saying 
as  their  reason,  to  what  purpose  repeat  our  visits  to  these 
abodes  of  misery  and  despair  when  they  had  neither  relief  to 
administer  nor  comfort  to  bestow.  They  rather  chose  to  turn 
the  eye  from  a  scene  they  could  not  ameliorate.  It  was  not 
without  remark,  too,  that  there  was  an  impediment  to  their 
release  by  exchange  maintained  by  the  American  rulers  them 
selves,  who  were  either  unable  or  unwilling  to  sustain  a  direct 
exchange,  because  they  foresaw  that  the  British  soldiers,  when 
released,  would  immediately  form  new  combatants  against 
them,  whereas  our  own  men,  especially  of  the  militia,  were 
liable  to  fall  back  into  non-combatants,  and  perhaps,  withal, 
dispirit  the  chance  of  new  levies.  Perhaps  the  stoical  virtue 
of  the  rigorous  times  made  apathy  in  such  a  cause  the  less 
exceptionable.  On  the  other  hand,  the  British  wished  the 
Prisoners  to  apostatize,  and  nothing  was  so  likely  to  influence 
defection  as  the  wish  to  escape  from  sickness  and  starvation. 


1 1 


[Watson's  Annals  of  New  York,  p.  338]  :  "It  has  always 
been  to  me  a  strange  and  unexplained  thing  why  the  American 
families  in  New  York  did  not  do  more  than  they  did  for  the 
Prisoners,  while  the  British  merchants  in  London  subscribed 
$20,000  for  the  American  Prisoners  in  England.  We  hear 
nothing  of  similar  doings  by  New  Yorkers  at  home !  They 
could  not  have  been  all  Tories,  and  all  hardhearted,  and  yet, 
somehow,  they  were  sadly  neglected." 

Captive  officers  of  the  land  and  sea  forces  were  exchanged 
for  men  of  same  rank.  Soldiers,  sailors  (of  the  Navy)  and 
citizens  were  exchanged  for  soldiers,  sailors  and  citizens.  Cap 
tives  taken  on  American  and  French  Privateersmen  and  mer 
chantmen,  when  landed  in  English  ports,  were  exchanged  for 
British  Prisoners  at  Brest,  France,  but  the  men  of  the  same 
class,  when  landed  in  American  ports,  were  brought  to  the 
Prison  ships  in  the  Wallabout  and  had  to  remain  there. 

[The  Adventures  of  Ebenezer  Fox.]  Fox  tells  us,  on 
page  133 :  "The  long  detention  of  American  sailors  on  board 
of  British  ships  was  to  be  attributed  to  the  little  pains  that 
were  taken  by  our  countrymen  to  retain  British  subjects  who 
were  taken  prisoners  on  the  ocean  during  the  war.  Our  Priva 
teers  captured  many  British  seamen,  who,  when  willing  to 
enlist  in  our  service,  as  was  generally  the  case,  were  received 
on  board  of  our  ships.  Those  who  were  brought  into  ports 
were  suffered  to  go  at  large,  for  in  the  impoverished  condition 
of  the  country  no  state  or  town  was  willing  to  subject  itself 
to  the  expense  of  maintaining  prisoners  in  a  state  of  confine 
ment  to  provide  for  themselves.  In  this  way  the  number  of 
British  seamen  was  too  small  for  a  regular  and  equal  exchange. 
Thus  the  British  seamen,  after  their  capture,  enjoyed  the  bless 
ings  of  liberty,  the  light  of  sun,  and  the  purity  of  the  atmos 
phere,  while,  the  poor  American  sailors  were  compelled  to  drag 
out  a  miserable  existence  amid  want  and  distress,  famine  and 
pestilence.  As  every  principle  of  justice  and  humanity  was 
disregarded  by  the  British  in  the  treatment  of  these  prisoners, 
so  likewise  every  moral  and  legal  right  was  violated  in  com 
pelling  them  to  enter  into  their  service." 


The  British  finding  that  they  had  a  great  number  of  Amer 
ican  and  French  Prisoners  at  their  hands,  for  which  existed  no 
possibility  of  exchange  during  the  war,  which  had  to  be  clothed 
and  fed,  when  clothing  and  food  were  very  scarce,  encouraged 
the  Prisoners  to  secure  their  liberty  for  money.  Fox  tells  us 
on  page  131  that  within  a  certain  period  200  disappeared  on 
the  Jersey.  The  money  was  given  to  the  officers  on  board 
and  the  Prisoners  were  reported  dead.  On  page  135  Fox  men 
tions  300  men  were  pressed  into  British  service  at  one  occa 
sion.  They  were  selected  by  an  officer  and  ordered  to  leave 
the  ship  and  go  with  him. 

The  Americans,  however,  used  the  same  method  to 
increase  their  forces.  Paul  Allen,  in  his  American  Revolution, 
Vol.  II,  p.  257,  says:  "The  French  king  consented  to  the 
desire  expressed  by  Congress  to  recruit  for  their  ships  among 
the  English  Prisoners  in  France,  requiring  only  that  it  should 
be  managed  with  prudence  and  precaution.  The  British  were 
short  of  men  on  board  their  ships ;  the  American  sailors,  kept 
confined  upon  the  Wallabout  Prison  ships  were  a  burden,  but 
could  become  a  valuable  asset  if  they  enlisted  in  the  British 
Navy.  Sentiment  or  patriotism  were  not  to  be  considered, 
for  the  British  existed  only  one  way  of  looking  upon  this  mat 
ter.  The  following  article  shows  how  they  acted  in  a  similar 
case  38  years  earlier,  when  the  victims  were  men  of  their  own 
kind : 

[Her  Majesty's  Navy,  by  Lt.  C.  R.  Low,  Vol.  I,  p.  173]  : 
"During  the  war  with  Spain  Commodore  Anson's  squadron  of 
five  ships-of-war  and  a  few  small  ships  was  delayed  in  1740 
by  the  want  of  men,  but  to  fill  up  the  required  300  he  could 
only  obtain  170,  of  whom  98  were  marines  and  32  convales 
cents  from  the  hospitals.  The  troops  were  to  consist  of  500 
out-pensioners  of  Chelsea  Hospital,  of  whom,  however,  only 
250  were  embarked,  all  those  who  could  walk  having  deserted. 
Such  were  the  conditions  under  which  too  often  ships  were 
manned  in  days  when  even  the  press  gangs  failed  to  supply 
the  proper  complement.  To  fill  the  place  of  the  240  invalid 
deserters,  210  marine  recruits,  wholly  undisciplined,  were  em 
barked,  and  thus  manned  the  squadron  sailed  on  September  18 

13 


from  Portsmouth  on  a  commission  which  was  to  last  three 
or  more  years  in  waters  where  the  British  flag  was  wholly 
unknown  (i.  e.,  the  Pacific  Ocean,  where  the  squadron  was  to 
harry  and  plunder  the  Spanish  settlements)  and  where  the 
succor  of  a  friendly  port  was  out  of  the  question.  The  bar 
barity  of  sending  out  to  die,  veterans  and  invalids,  who  had 
devoted  their  health  and  the  best  years  of  their  lives  to  the 
service  of  their  country,  was  only  equalled  by  the  folly  of 
expecting  any  efficient  service  from  men  thus  crippled." 

All  sorts  of  news  and  rumors  relating  to  the  Prison  ships 
were  published  in  the  newspapers  of  the  various  cities,  some 
no  doubt  being  exaggerated.  Clippings  from  these  papers 
were  later  used  in  compiling  the  story  of  the  Prison  ships. 
The  diary  of  Captain  Jabez  Fitch,  a  prisoner  on  the  Jersey, 
furnishes  a  good  illustration  for  this.  He  states  that  the  cap 
tives  were  told  all  kinds  of  untrue  stories  of  late  events,  that 
the  Indians  were  ravaging  the  frontier  towns  all  through  the 
country,  etc.,  etc.  The  Prisoners  were  allowed  to  send  one 
of  their  number,  a  captain,  to  Connecticut,  with  letters  for  their 
friends,  to  procure  clothing,  money,  etc.,  for  them.  Through 
their  letters  all  the  false  reports,  which  the  Prisoners  in  good 
faith  had  mentioned  therein,  were  spread  through  Connecticut. 
Newspapers  printed  such  news,  which  were  apt  to  become 
incorporated  in  the  various  narratives,  compiled  and  published 
in  later  years. 

THE  PRISON  SHIPS 

[Stiles'  History  of  Brooklyn,  Vol.  I,  p.  60]  :  "The  Prison 
ships  were  condemned  vessels  of  war,  totally  unsuitable  for 
places  of  confinement,  and  while  the  abstract  right  of  the 
enemy  to  use  them  as  such  is  unquestionable,  yet  there  was 
not  the  least  necessity  of  so  doing,  when  within  a  stone's  throw 
were  broad  acres  of  unoccupied  land,  much  better  suited  for 
the  purpose." 

But  the  very  fact  that  the  near-by  land  was  unoccupied 
made  it  unsuitable  for  the  purpose.  Building  material  was 
not  obtainable.  The  barracks  for  the  British  troops  were  built 
with  lumber  procured  by  taking  down  frame  church  buildings, 

14 


some  far  out  on  the  island.  Dr.  Stiles  says  further :  "In  evi 
dence  that  the  Americans  did  not  question  the  right  of  the 
British  to  use  these  ships  for  prisons,  we  may  cite  the  fact  that 
in  1782  a  vessel  fitly  named  the  Retaliation  was  fitted  up  as  a 
Prison  ship,  moored  in  the  Thames  River,  near  New  London, 
Connecticut,  and  used  as  a  place  of  confinement  for  captured 
British  seamen." 

[Jones'  Hist,  of  N.  Y.  during  the  Revolutionary  War, 
Vol.  I,  pp.  705-710.]  Judge  Jones,  the  Loyalist,  describes  the 
American  Prison  ships,  alias  Fleet  Prison,  at  Esopus  Landing 
and  the  treatment  of  the  British  Prisoners  aboard. 

[Stiles'  Hist,  of  Brooklyn,  Vol.  I,  p.  333]  :  The  first 
Prison  ship  to  arrive  at  the  Wallabout  was  the  Whitby,  in 
October,  1776.  She  was  crowded ;  there  were  over  250  prison 
ers  aboard,  including  many  landsmen  (probably  Whigs  from 
Long  Island).  In  1777  two  hospital  ships  were  added,  which 
were  destroyed  by  fire,  one  in  October,  1777,  and  the  other  in 
February,  1778.  The  Good  Hope,  Captain  Nelson,  came  in 
January,  1780,  but  was  destroyed  by  fire  on  March  5,  1780. 
The  prisoners  were  temporarily  put  on  board  of  ships  winter 
ing  in  Wallabout  Bay.  In  April,  1780,  the  Jersey  arrived, 
being  used  as  the  receiving  ship.  She  took  over  all  prisoners 
excepting  the  sick,  which  were  transferred  aboard  the  Hope 
and  Falmouth,  two  hospital  ships,  which  also  came  to  this 
place  at  that  time.  Andros,  a  prisoner  and  later  clergyman, 
says:  "When  the  hospital  ships  became  overcrowded,  some 
sick  had  to  be  kept  on  the  Jersey." 

The  Jersey,  also  called  the  Old  Jersey,  is  generally  de 
scribed  as  a  condemned  hulk,  having  become  unfit  from  age. 
The  name  Jersey,  applied  to  a  ship  of  the  line  in  the  British 
Navy,  was  perpetuated  through  centuries,  and  a  list  of  dates, 
taken  from  "Lives  of  the  British  Admirals,"  with  the  names 
of  Commanders  of  the  Jersey,  a  fourth-rate  ship,  is  appended : 

1664.  Hugh  Hide,  Vol.  I,  p.  57. 

1664.  Sir  John  Holmes,  Vol.  I,  p.  104. 

1665.  Sir  John  Du  Tiel,  Vol.  I,  p.  163. 
1672.  Sir  William  Poole,  Vol.  I,  p.  27. 
1677.  Richard  Griffith,  Vol.  II,  p.  384. 
1686.  Sir  William  Jennings. 

15 


[Vol.  II,  pp.  74-76;  I,  377,  217;  II,  364]  :  "Having  been 
taken  by  the  French  some  time  prior  in  the  West  Indies,  the 
Jersey  was  used  by  the  French  in  1694  to  convoy  a  fleet  of 
merchant  ships,  eastward  bound.  Admiral  Russell,  meeting 
this  fleet,  ordered  the  Resolute  and  Roebuck,  fire  ships,  to 
attack  the  same.  During  the  engagement  the  Jersey  ran  for 
the  shore,  where  she  struck  on  a  ridge  of  rocks.  The  ship  was 
fired  by  the  crew  and  blew  up.  A  later  ship  Jersey  captured 
in  1711  a  French  merchantman.  The  Jersey  of  Revolutionary 
times  was  built,  according  to  Dr.  Stiles'  Kings  Co.,  p.  56,  in 
1736.  In  1745  the  Jersey,  60-gun  ship,  Sir  Charles  Hardy, 
Commander,  fought  the  French  74-gun  ship,  Saint  Esprit.  She 
is  again  mentioned  in  1759  as  lying  of!  the  harbor  of  Toulon, 
France,  with  two  other  ships-of-the-line,  ready  to  attack  the 
French  fleet,  then  in  Toulon  Harbor.  (Her  Majesty's  Navy, 
Vol.  I,  p.  318.)  When  the  Jersey  dropped  her  anchor  for  the 
last  time,  she  had  reached  the  age  of  44  years,  not  a  great  age 
for  war  ships  of  the  18th  century.  These  ships  were  built  of 
sturdy  timbers,  and  cut  the  waves  until  the  enemy's  guns  or 
the  elements  sent  them  into  their  watery  graves.  As  an 
example,  we  may  cite  the  case  of  the  Edgar,  another  battleship 
of  the  British  Navy. 

[Her  Majesty's  Navy,  Lt.  C.  R.  Low,  Vol.  I,  p.  107]  : 
"Admiral  Walker's  flagship,  the  Edgar,  70  guns,  was  in  1711 
the  oldest  ship  in  the  Navy,  and  there  is  a  tradition  that  some 
of  her  timbers  were  actually  in  the  ship  in  which  the  old  Saxon 
king,  after  whom  she  was  named,  had  sailed.  The  seamen  of 
the  fleet  considered  her  loss  ominous  of  disaster,  but  she  was 
soon  replaced  by  another  bearing  the  same  name,  and  as  late 
as  the  Crimean  War  the  Edgar  was  the  name  of  the  90-gun 
screw-steam-line-of  battleship,  considered  then  one  of  the 
finest  ships  in  the  service." 

But  the  years  spent  in  war  service  as  transport  for  the 
troops  to  the  Canadas  and  later  to  the  United  Colonies  un 
doubtedly  ran  down  the  ship.  The  Leviathan  of  our  day  may 
serve  as  an  excellent  illustration  of  the  case  of  the  Jersey. 
Six  years  ago  the  Leviathan  was  one  of  the  most  admired 
ships  upon  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  Two  years  of  war  service 

16 


have  left  their  marks  upon  the  vessel,  which,  however, 
can  be  restored  to  her  former  condition.  The  Jersey  was 
then  a  64-gun,  fourth  rate,  and  had  carried  about  450  men. 
Now  the  guns  and  stores  being  removed,  she  was  a  very  roomy 
vessel.  The  captive  officers  occupied  the  gunroom,  the  Ameri 
can  sailors  were  kept  in  two  compartments  below  the  main 
deck,  and  the  French  and  Spanish  Prisoners  in  the  lowest  part, 
and  among  the  latter  the  mortality  must  have  been  the  great 
est.  Besides  the  captain,  Laird,  there  were  two  mates,  a 
steward,  a  cook,  about  twelve  sailors  and  as  many  old  marines. 
The  guard,  consisting  of  about  thirty  men,  was  weekly  re 
lieved,  and  was  made  up  of  groups  of  Englishmen,  Hessians 
or  Refugees.  The  rations  of  the  Prisoners  were  equal  to  two- 
thirds  of  a  British  seaman's  allowance,  viz.,  two-thirds  of  three 
pounds  of  biscuit,  one  and  a  half  pounds  of  flour,  one  pint  of 
oatmeal,  one  pound  of  beef,  two  pounds  of  pork,  two  pounds 
of  suet,  two  ounces  of  butter  and  a  half-pint  of  peas  per  week. 
A  Prisoner  has  stated  that  the  putrid  and  damaged  food  given 
to  the  Prisoners  was  procured  by  the  commissaries  for  little 
or  nothing,  and  was  charged  to  the  English  government  at  the 
prices  of  the  best  provisions.  The  hospital  ships  had  awnings 
and  windsails  at  the  hatchways,  to  conduct  fresh  air  between 
decks ;  the  hatchways  were  left  open  during  the  night  on  these 
boats.  Patients  received  one  gill  of  ordinary  wine  and  twelve 
ounces  of  bad  bread  per  day.  The  nurses  were  of  the  lowest 
type.  Some  benevolent  New  York  citizens  furnished  all  the 
sick  on  board  the  Frederick  (a  hospital  ship  at  one  time)  con 
stantly  with  a  pint  each  daily  of  Bohea  tea,  well  sweetened 
with  molasses. 

As  the  writer  has  already  mentioned,  the  Prison  ships 
have  been  condemned  by  all  former  writers  on  this  subject. 
Space  would  not  permit  to  repeat  even  a  small  fraction  of 
what  has  been  written  along  these  lines  during  the  past  cen 
tury.  The  writer  has  gathered  some  material  from  the  records 
left  by  the  Prisoners,  which,  taken  together,  may  show  that 
there  were  a  few  brighter  spots  upon  the  dark  path  of  these 
unfortunates.  It  is,  however,  not  the  writer's  intention  by 
emphasizing  these  points,  while  the  accusations,  pronounced 


so  often  against  the  British  officials,  are  not  brought  to  the 
front  again,  to  have  the  jailers  appear  as  guardian  angels. 
In  1779  the  English  forces  at  New  York  just  escaped  surrender 
or  else  starvation,  by  the  arrival  of  supply  ships  in  the  eleventh 
hour.  This  danger  was  for  the  time  averted,  but  food  and 
fuel  remained  scarce,  and  the  Prisoners  themselves  did  com 
mit  many  acts  which  irritated  their  keepers.  Prisons  were 
then  not  what  they  are  to-day,  and  the  Prisoners  taken  on 
Privateers  had  not  the  same  claim?  as  those  of  the  Army  and 
Navy,  and,  lastly,  they  could  not  be  exchanged.  Every  Amer 
ican  soldier  or  sailor  of  the  Navy  in  British  hands  represented 
a  value  in  exchange  for  captured  Britons.  The  men  on  the 
Jersey,  if  unable  to  purchase  their  liberty,  could  only  wait  for 
peace  or  death ;  they  were  the  victims  of  circumstances.  Cap 
tain  Dring,  one  of  their  number,  tells  us  that  they  enjoyed 
their  evening's  pipe  before  being  sent  below  deck,  and  that 
they  celebrated  July  4  in  1782  by  bringing  thirteen  little  Amer 
ican  flags  upon  deck,  which  were  planted  there,  but  promptly 
torn  down  by  the  guards,  by  songs  and  patriotic  speeches. 
A  row  with  a  guard  followed  at  night,  in  course  of  which 
Americans  were  killed.  Prisoners  were  allowed  to  send  three 
messengers  to  Washington  in  1782.  Through  these  they  sent 
promise  that  if  their  release  could  be  procured  they  would 
gladly  enter  the  American  Army  for  service  during  the  remain 
der  of  the  war.  Washington  obtained  improvement  of  their 
condition ;  they  received  better  bread,  butter  in  place  of  the 
rancid  sweet  oil,  which  had  heretofore  represented  their  but 
ter  ;  an  awning  was  provided  and  a  windsail  to  conduct  fresh 
air  between  the  decks  during  the  day.  At  night,  however,  the 
hatchway  was  fastened  tightly,  as  formerly.  Prisoners  who  had 
money,  generally  sewed  in  canvas  bags  or  inside  of  their 
trousers,  could  buy  their  liberty,  and  were  then  reported  among 
the  dead.  Friends  were  allowed  to  visit  the  Prisoners  and 
bring  various  articles  to  promote  their  comfort.  Correspond 
ence  was  allowed,  subject  to  some  kind  of  censure.  In  some 
cases  Prisoners  were  permitted  to  visit  their  homes  upon  their 
word  of  honor  to  return  to  the  Jersey  at  a  specified  time. 
Funeral  services  were  allowed,  if  desired.  A  physician  from 

18 


the  hospital  ship  Hunter  visited  the  Jersey  daily.  Other  Pris 
oners,  however,  say  no  physician  came  ever  on  board.  Prison 
ers  would  not  use  buckets  and  brushes  to  cleanse  the  ship,  and 
had  to  be  forced  to  work  the  pumps.  They  also  delighted  in 
annoying  the  guards  and  the  cook.  A  gondola  was  running 
continually  between  the  shore  and  the  Jersey,  bringing  seven 
hundred  gallons  of  fresh  water  a  day  to  the  ship.  General 
Johnson  says  the  Jersey  was  supplied  with  water  from  a  spring 
on  his  father's  farm  at  the  Wallabout.  Four  Prisoners  under  a 
guard  carried  the  water  to  the  gondola.  Prisoners  could  drink 
all  the  water  they  wanted  at  the  "butt,"  but  carry  away  only 
one  pint  at  a  time.  Surplus  water  was  kept  in  butts  in  the 
lower  hold  which  had  never  been  cleaned.  The  Prisoners  had 
recourse  to  these  when  they  could  procure  no  other  water. 
The  galley  was  a  large  copper  vessel  on  the  top  deck,  which 
was  partitioned  in  the  middle.  On  the  one  side  peas  and  oat 
meal  were  boiled  in  fresh  water.  The  meat  was  boiled  on  the 
other  side  in  salt  water,  which  was  gotten  from  alongside  the 
ship.  This  water  was  polluted,  and  the  copper  became  cor 
roded  from  the  use  of  the  salt  water.  Prisoners  who  objected 
to  this  manner  of  boiling  the  meat  could  prepare  the  portion 
allotted  to  their  respective  mess  in  tin  vessels.  If,  as  General 
Johnson  says,  four  Prisoners  could  carry  the  daily  supply  of 
water  to  the  gondola,  an  additional  Prisoner  could  have  carried 
the  needed  supply  for  cooking  the  meat  in  fresh  water.  The 
danger,  invited  by  the  use  of  this  polluted  salt  water,  existed 
in  the  first  line,  for  the  Prisoners,  but  the  crew  and  guard  upon 
the  ship  were  exposed  to  the  same  danger  in  the  second  line. 
If  typhoid  fever  or  any  other  contagious  disease  resulted  from 
its  use,  the  crew  would  have  been  infected,  and  the  guard, 
which  was  relieved  weekly,  would  have  spread  such  disease  to 
the  camp,  and  eventually  to  the  city.  After  sundown  the  men 
had  to  be  below  deck,  and  only  one  at  the  time  was  allowed  to 
come  on  the  main  deck.  Fox  tells  us  that  the  guard  on  the 
hatchway  was  knocked  down  one  night  while  engaged  in  con 
versation  with  his  visitor  from  below  deck.  The  other  Pris 
oners,  coming  then  on  deck,  were  overpowered  by  the  rest  of 
the  guard,  which  had  been  attracted  by  the  noise.  At  another 

'9 


time,  he  says,  Prisoners  got  possession  of  a  boat,  in  which  a 
visitor  had  come  to  the  ship,  got  clear  of  the  Jersey,  and  the 
Prisoners  on  board  gave  three  cheers.  After  that  when  visitors 
came  the  Prisoners  were  driven  below  to  remain  there  until 
the  company  had  departed.  On  page  145  he  states  that  a 
recruiting  officer  came  to  the  ship.  The  Prisoners  had  filled 
a  snuffbox  with  vermin.  This  they  now  opened  upon  the  back 
of  the  officer's  coat.  All  these  things  were  bound  to  increase 
the  hatred  of  the  British  against  the  men,  and  some  of  their 
earlier  privileges  were  revoked.  On  page  108  Fox  says : 
"Many  of  the  Prisoners  were  foreigners  (i.  e.  Frenchmen),  and 


From  "fojf's  Adventures" 

Successful  escape  of  a  captain  and  four  mates  from  the  Jersey,  at  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 

one    day  in  December,   1780.      These  men  had  been  taken  in  a  vessel  from  a  Southern 

port  and  had  been  brought  to  the  Prison  ship  a  few  days  previous. 

were  on  the  prison  ship  for  two  years,  and  had  given  up  all 
hope  of  ever  being  exchanged.  But  far  different  was  the  con 
dition  of  the  most  numerous  class  of  prisoners,  composed 
mostly  of  young  men  from  New  England,  fresh  from  home." 
On  page  138:  "The  American  sailors  suffered  even  more  than 
the  soldiers,  for  they  were  confined  on  board  of  Prison  ships 
in  great  numbers,  and  in  a  manner  which  showed  that  the 
British  officers  were  willing  to  treat  fellow-beings  whose  crime 


was  love  of  liberty  worse  than  the  vilest  animals."  Stiles, 
Vol.  I,  p.  347,  speaking  of  the  guard,  says:  "Hessians  were 
preferred,  because  of  better  treatment  by  them."  Ostrander, 
History  of  Brooklyn,  Vol.  II,  p.  11,  says:  "The  soldiers  in 
charge  of  the  Prison  ships  were  mostly  Hessians,  and  were 
universally  hated  as  mercenaries." 

[Watson's  Annals,  p.  336]  :  General  Johnson  says:  "It 
has  been  generally  thought  that  all  the  Prisoners  died  on  board 
the  Jersey;  this  is  not  true.  Many  may  have  died  on  board  of 
her,  who  were  not  reported  as  sick,  but  all  the  men  who  were 
placed  on  the  sick  list  were  removed  to  the  hospital  ships, 
from  which  they  were  usually  taken,  se\ved  up  in  a  blanket, 
to  their  long  home." 

[Onderdonck's  Revolutionary  Incidents  of  Suffolk  Co.  and 
Kings  Co.,  p.  245]  :  Article  dated  "Fishkill,  May  8,  1783. 
To  all  Printers  of  Public  Newspapers :  Tell  it  to  the  world 
and  let  it  be  published  in  every  newspaper  throughout  America, 
Europe,  Asia  and  Africa  to  the  everlasting  disgrace  and  in 
famy  of  the  British  king's  commanders  at  New  York,  that 
during  the  late  war  it  is  said  11,644  American  Prisoners  have 
suffered  death  by  their  inhuman,  cruel,  savage  and  barbarous 
usage  on  board  of  the  filthy  and  malignant  British  Prison  ship 
called  the  Jersey,  lying  at  New  York.  Britons,  tremble,  lest 
the  vengeance  of  Heaven  fall  on  your  isle  for  the  blood  of  these 
unfortunate  victims.  An  American."  [Ibid,  p.  245.]  Onder- 
donck  says:  "The  above  paragraph  (i.  e.,  letter  of  May  8, 
1783)  is  the  original  source  of  all  the  reports  of  the  vast  num 
bers  who  perished  in  the  Prison  ships.  What  number  died 
cannot  be  even  guessed  at.  All  is  rumor  and  conjecture, 
whether  it  was  11,500  or  half  that  number." 

[Shannon's  New  York  Common  Council  Manual  of  1870, 
p.  795]  has  another  letter,  dated  "Fishkill,  July  10,  1783,"  and 
signed  "Americanus."  The  writer  of  this  letter  shows  himself 
to  be  an  irreconcilable  foe  of  Great  Britain,  and  if  he  is,  as  it 
appears  likely,  also  the  writer  of  the  letter  of  May  8,  1783,  his 
accusation  cannot  be  taken  at  its  face  value,  because  his  hatred 
of  Great  Britain  makes  him  incompetent  to  judge.  At  the 
conclusion  of  the  war,  in  1783,  the  Prisoners,  who  were  still  on 


board  the  Jersey,  were  liberated.  The,  ship  was  then  aban 
doned.  Worms  soon  destroyed  her  bottom,  and  she  afterward 
sank.  (Fox.) 

John  Jackson  acquired  about  1791  the  Remsen  mill  prop 
erty,  on  which  the  bodies  from  the  Prison  ships  were  interred. 
In  cutting  away  the  volley  bank  and  making  other  improve 
ments,  preparatory  to  a  Navy  Yard,  in  1803,  the  bones  were 
exposed.  The  townspeople  wanted  the  remains  deposited  in 
the  Dutch  churchyard,  but  Jackson,  being  a  Sachem  of  the- 
Tammany  Society  of  New  York,  decided  to  have  that  society 
take  care  of  the  case,  perhaps  for  political  effect.  Benjamin 
Romeyn  was  the  Grand  Sachem  in  1808,  and  under  his  guid 
ance  the  remains  were  deposited  in  a  tomb  or  vault  upon  land 
donated  by  Jackson.  The  cornerstone  bore  an  inscription, 
part  of  which  read  as  follows :  "Sacred  to  the  memory  of  that 
portion  of  American  Seamen,  Soldiers  and  Citizens,  who  per 
ished  on  board  the  Prison  ships  of  the  British  at  the  Wallabout 
during  the  Revolution."  Nothing  further  was  done,  and  after 
about  thirty  years  the  lot  on  which  the  vault  was  situated  was 
sold  for  taxes,  and  Romeyn  acquired  it.  He  built  an  ante 
chamber  over  the  vault.  Part  of  its  inscription  was :  "The 
portal  to  the  tomb  of  the  11,500  patriot  Prisoners  of  War,  who 
died  in  dungeons  and  pestilential  Prison  ships  in  and  about 
the  City  of  New  York  during  the  war  of  our  Revolution." 
Romeyn  was  laid  to  rest  here  in  1844,  aged  82  years.  The 
inscription  on  the  cornerstone  of  the  vault  of  1808  read  thus: 
"American  Seamen,  Soldiers  and  Citizens."  The  inscription 
of  the  ante-chamber  read  :  "11,500  Prisoners  of  War  who  died 
in  dungeons  and  pestilential  Prison  ships  in  and  about  the  City 
of  New  York."  There  are  two  probable  reasons  for  Romeyn's 
version.  First,  some  of  the  bodies  of  Prisoners  who  had  died 
in  dungeons  in  New  York  City,  were  brought  to  the  Long 
Island  shore  for  burial.  Second,  he  himself  had  been  for 
seven  weeks  a  Prisoner  in  two  of  the  prisons  in  New  York 
City  and  wanted  to  be  buried  with  these  remains.  Regarding 
the  inscription  of  the  cornerstone  of  1808:  There  is  no  record 
extant  which  would  plainly  show  that  any  American  Soldiers 
were  brought  on  board  of  any  of  the  Wallabout  Prison  ships 


22 


for  permanent  confinement.  The  first  ship,  the  Whitby,  un 
doubtedly  had  some  landsmen  prisoners,  probably  suspected 
persons,  who  had  been  taken  on  Long  Island,  because  the 
prisons  in  the  city  had  become  overcrowded,  and  the  great  fire 
had  caused  a  disturbance  in  all  departments  of  the  British 
Army. 

PRISONERS    IN    ENGLAND 

[The  Prisoners  of  1776,  Rev.  R.  Livesey,  Boston,  1854.] 
Charles  Herbert  was  taken  prisoner  on  an  American  ship  at 
the  end  of  1776,  and  was  brought  to  England,  where  he  re 
mained  until  the  early  part  of  1779,  when  he  was  exchanged 
at  Brest,  in  France.  His  diary  affords  some  interesting  side 
lights  on  the  prisons  in  England.  On  the  ships  conditions 
were  such  that  if  these  ships  had  been  located  for  several  years 
in  an  isolated  bay,  like  the  Wallabout,  far  from  the  homeland, 
in  times  of  great  want,  they  would  have  paralleled  the  case  of 
the  Jersey.  Conditions  of  prisons  on  land  were  far  superior 
and  improved  as  time  went  on.  Herbert  writes :  "Put  on 
Bellisle  ship  in  February,  1777;  all  Prisoners  infected  with 
vermin ;  20  to  30  have  itch.  Transferred  to  Tarbay ;  16  on 
sick  list.  Transferred  to  Burford ;  40  have  itch.  Have  good 
beds.  Cases  of  smallpox  and  yellow  fever.  June,  1777, 
transferred  to  Old  Mill  Prison,  Plymouth.  Cases  of  smallpox. 
Many  escapes  of  Prisoners.  Men  complained  at  one  occasion 
about  quality  of  bread ;  at  another  refused  to  eat  the  meat ; 
improvement  followed.  £7,000  were  collected  in  England  for 
support  of  Prisoners,  and  after  the  sum  had  been  expended,  a  new 
subscription  was  taken."  Page  218:  "January,  1779:  Prisoners 
had  made  an  attempt  to  escape  and  were  put  on  half  allowance ; 
they  killed  a  dog  belonging  to  an  officer  and  ate  dog  meat.  There 
was  a  great  talk  in  London  about  eating  the  dog,  and  an  investi 
gation  was  set  on  foot  to  find  out  whether  it  was  caused  by  actual 
necessity  or  not."  During  his  stay  at  the  prison  Herbert  says 
there  were  380  Prisoners,  of  which  55  escaped,  19  died,  62 
enlisted  on  English  ships.  He  was  exchanged  with  others,  100  in 
all,  at  Brest,  France. 


23 


CONCLUSION 

The  British  seem  to  have  used  the  ships  at  the  Wallabour 
as  their  general  prison  for  Naval  Prisoners  on  this  side  of  the 
Atlantic.  They  brought  the  men  taken  on  French,  Spanish 
and  Dutch  vessels  into  American  harbors,  and  apparently  con 
centrated  them  at  the  Wallabout.  There  were  many  French 
captives  there.  Thus  it  is  likely  that  many  of  the  dead  on  the 
Prison  ships  were  not  Americans.  Onderdonck's  Revolution 
ary  Incidents  of  Suffolk  Co.  and  Kings  Co.  have,  on  pages 
228  to  232,  notes  referring  to  these  Prison  ships:  "July  10, 
1778:  About  350  men  confined  between  decks,  half  French 
men.  New  London,  July  31,  1778:  Last  week  500  or  600 
American  Prisoners  were  released  from  confinement  at  New 
York  and  sent  out  by  way  of  New  Jersey,  being  exchanged. 
New  London,  September  26,  1778:  All  American  Prisoners 
are  nearly  sent  out  of  New  York,  but  there  are  615  French 
Prisoners  still  there.  New  London,  December  18,  1778:  A 
flag  with  70  men  from  the  horrible  Prison  ships  at  New  York 
arrived,  thirty  very  sickly;  2  died  since  they  arrived.  New 
London,  December  25,  1778:  A  cartel  arrived  here  from  New 
York  with  172  American  Prisoners,  greater  part  sickly  and  in 
most  deplorable  condition,  owing  chiefly  to  the  ill  usage  in  the 
Prison  ships,  where  numbers  had  their  feet  and  legs  frozen. 
February  4,  1779 :  136  from  Prison  ships  sent  to  New  London. 
January  23,  1779:  200  from  Prison  ships  sent  to  New  Jersey. 
August  18,  1779:  500  or  600  American  Prisoners  exchanged; 
47  from  Prison  ship  Good  Hope  sent  to  New  London ;  for  once 
all  are  well  and  healthy;  only  150  left.  September  1,  1779: 
180  American  Prisoners  sent  to  New  London.  September  29, 
1779:  117  American  Prisoners  sent  to  New  London,  chiefly 
from  New  England.  New  Haven,  July  20,  1780:  Only  3 
Marine  Prisoners,  it  is  said,  in  New  York." 

In  1888  the  Society  of  Old  Brooklynites  published  a  list  of 
eight  thousand  names  of  Prisoners,  which  were  confined  on 
board  the  Jersey  during  the  war.  We  quote  from  this  publica 
tion  :  "After  diligent  research  among  the  records  of  the  Brit 
ish  War  Department,  access  to  which  was  kindly  permitted 

24 


by  Her  Majesty's  Government,  this  is  all  that  can  be  found, 
and  these  are  from  the  records  of  this  one  ship  only.  No  record 
of  the  names  of  any  of  the  Prisoners  on  the  Prison  ships 
Scorpion,  John,  Strombolo,  Falmouth,  Hunter,  Prince  of  Wales 
and  Transport  can  be  found,  though  their  log  books  make 
very  frequent  mention  of  Prisoners  having  been  received  on 
board.  The  list  here  printed  is,  therefore,  but  a  small  portion 
of  those  of  our  fellow  citizens  who  were  confined  on  board 
these  floating  Golgothas.  Nor  is  it  possible  to  designate  which 
of  those  names  died  on  board ;  but  authentic  history  within  the 
memory  of  the  parents  of  many  now  living  proves  that  the 
number  that  died  and  were  buried  on  our  shores  and  over  whose 
remains  we  now  desire  to  erect  a  monument  worthy  of  these 
patriots  numbered  more  than  12,000."  After  this  careful  re 
search  has  been  made  it  seems  unlikely  that  we  will  ever  get 
information  as  to  the  exact  numbers.  But  this  need  not  keep 
us  from  trying  to  arrive  at  figures  in  our  own  way,  although  it 
is  not  expected  that  these  figures  will  be  accepted  by  all  read 
ers.  General  Johnson  tells  us  that  after  April,  1780,  the  Jersey 
was  the  receiving  ship.  This  fact  may  explain  why  the  arch 
ives  of  the  British  War  Department  do  not  contain  any  records 
of  the  Prisoners  on  the  other  ships.  When  Prisoners  were 
brought  to  the  Wallabout  they  were  delivered  on  board  the 
receiving  ship  and  their  names  entered  upon  the  record  book 
of  the  Jersey.  If  distributed  over  the  other  ships,  for  reason 
of  sickness  or  any  other  reason,  there  was  no  necessity  of 
recording  their  names  again.  The  other  ships  were  in  1780 
the  Falmouth  and  Hope,  both  used  as  hospital  ships.  Later 
their  place  was  taken  by  some  of  the  ships  named,  but  there 
were  never  more  than  five  ships  stationed  at  the  Wallabout  at 
one  time,  including  the  receiving  ship  Jersey.  These  other 
ships  were  considerably  smaller  than  the  Jersey.  The  Fal 
mouth  was  probably  the  next  in  size ;  there  was  a  frigate 
of  this  name  in  the  British  Navy,  having  in  1692  and  in  1702 
forty-eight  guns,  and  in  1707  fifty  guns;  she  is  again  mentioned 
in  1760.  The  ship  at  the  Wallabout  was  probably  the  suc 
cessor  of  this  ship.  It  was  the  custom  to  apply  the  old  name 
to  a  new  ship  of  the  same  class,  if  the  older  ship  was  lost  to  an 

25 


enemy,  by  foundering,  fire,  or  else  was  retired  for  any  other 
reason.  The  Good  Hope  in  1664  carried  thirty-four  guns, 
when  she  was  captured  in  that  year  by  the  Dutch,  the  name 
was  applied  to  a  new  vessel.  The  Hunter  was  in  1660  a  sloop 
that  is,  a  one-masted  vessel ;  the  John  at  the  same  time  was  a 
ketch,  that  is,  a  heavily  built,  two-masted  vessel,  both  with 
fore  and  aft  rig.  There  was  a  Strombolo  in  1696,  but  we  have 
no  description  of  this  vessel.  Taking  it  for  granted  that  the 
ships  found  at  the  Wallabout  between  1776  and  1783  were  of 
the  same  class  as  the  ships  bearing  the  same  names  a  century 
earlier,  we  have  a  base  to  work  upon. 

We  do  know  that  the  first  ship  stationed  here  in  October, 
1776,  was  the  Whitby.  She  is  said  to  have  been  crowded, 
having  250  Prisoners  aboard.  Thus  we  have : 

1776  Whitby,  a  large  transport,  was  moored  near  Rem- 

sen's  Mill 250 

1777  Kitty  and  another  large  ship,  which  together  took 

over  the  Prisoners  from  Whitby.  Both  were 
burnt,  in  1777,  and  1778  resp 500 

1778  Names  of  ships  unknown 500 

1779  Names  of  ships  unknown 500 

1780  Good  Hope;  had  been  lying  in  North  River  in 

October,  1778.  Good  Hope  and  Prince  of 
Wales  were  Prison  ships  stationed  in  January, 
1779,  in  North  River.  In  August,  1779,  sails 
and  rigging  of  Good  Hope  were  offered  for 
sale ;  masts,  spars  and  yards  "as  good  as  new." 
Removed  to  Wallabout  in  January,  1780;  was 
burnt  March  5,  1780.  Transports  were  lying 
near  by  and  Prisoners  were  put  aboard  the 
Woodland,  where  they  remained  a  short  time, 
until  the  Strombolo  and  Scorpion  were  gotten 
ready.  The  burnt  hulk  sank  near  what  was 

known  as  Pinder's  Island 500 

1780     Jersey  had  been  lying  at  Franklin,  near  Tolmie's 
Dock,   East   River,  in   December,    1778.     Was 
used   as   Prison   ship,   East   River,    1779.     Re 
moved  to  Wallabout  end  of  April,  1780,  as  the 
26 


receiving  ship,  and  all  Prisoners  removed  to 

this  ship ;  at  first  400,  but  highest  number  1,200  1,200 

1780     Falmouth,  hospital  ship 200 

1780  Hope,  hospital  ship,  used  in  1783  to  transport 

Loyalists  to  New  Brunswick 200 

1780  Scorpion,  sloop  of  4  guns,  Prison  ship,  120-300 

Prisoners  300 

1780  Strombolo  (a  fire  ship),  Prison  ship  150-200  Pris 
oners  200 

1780  Hunter,  sloop,  hospital  ship 200 

1781  Jersey,  850  Prisoners,  on  all  ships 2,000 

1782  Jersey,    May,     1,000    Prisoners;    later    increased; 

on    all    ships 2,000 

1783  Jersey,  highest,  1,200;  John  (transport)  used  as 

Prison  ship,  supplementary  to  Jersey,  200-300 
Prisoners;  Frederick,  hospital  ship;  Persever 
ance,  hospital  ship;  Bristol  (packet),  hospital 
ship  (hulls  offered  for  sale)  ;  in  all 2,000 

Total  of  Prisoners 10,550 

Prisoners  died  and  their  places  were  taken  by  others,  but 
those  newcomers  did  not  arrive  in  such  numbers  that  one 
could  say  the  1,200  men  which  were  on  the  Jersey  on  a  New 
Year's  Day  were  all  dead  by  March  or  April  and  new  Prison 
ers  had  taken  their  places.  But  let  us  suppose  that  the  entire 
lot  of  prisoners  aboard  each  ship  died  during  the  year  and 
were  replaced  by  the  same  number  of  newcomers  by  Decem 
ber  31,  the  total  number  of  Prisoners  kept  on  the  Prison  ships 
during  the  whole  war  would  be  10,550.  We  do  also  know  that 
many  of  the  Prisoners  were  foreigners,  especially  Frenchmen, 
and  that  these  were  held  in  the  lowest  compartment  of  the 
Jersey.  There  was,  therefore,  a  greater  percentage  of  dead 
among  these  than  among  the  Americans,  and  we  may  not  be 
far  from  the  right  road  when  we  set  down  their  share  as  one-third 
of  the  total.  Thus  if  all  10,550  Prisoners  held  on  these  ships 
during  the  entire  war  (always  having  in  mind  our  list)  died, 
the  victims  of  the  Prison  ships  consisted  of  7,000  Americans 
and  3,550  foreigners.  These  figures  are,  however,  as  Onder- 

27 


donck  remarks,  about  that  other  figure  of  11,500,  pure  guess 
work.  The  number  of  Americans  thus  arrived  at,  corresponds 
pretty  closely  to  the  figures  furnished  by  the  records  in  the 
British  archives,  and  in  justice  to  himself  the  writer  must 
here  say  that  in  computing  that  list  he  was  in  no  way  guided 
by  the  other  list.  The  American  Prisoners  did  not  all  die,  and 
a  goodly  number  of  them  secured  their  liberty  for  money  and 
were  officially  reported  as  dead.  The  British  officials  were 
careful  to  see  them  get  off  safely,  to  encourage  others  to  follow 
their  example.  A  smaller  number  escaped  from  the  ships  and 
reached  points  in  New  Jersey  and  Connecticut,  where  charit 
able  people  assisted  them  in  getting  back  to  their  old  homes 
and  become  re-united  with  their  families. 

APPENDIX 
Soldiers  in  Revolutionary  War 

New  Hampshire,  12,407;  Massachusetts,  67,907; 
Rhode  Island,  5,908;  Connecticut,  31,935;  New 
York,  17,781;  New  Jersey,  10,726;  Pennsylvania, 
25,678;  Delaware,  3,386;  Maryland,  13,912,  Vir 
ginia,  26,678;  North  Carolina,  7,363;  South  Caro 
lina,  6,147;  Georgia,  2,619.  Total 232,447 

Of  which  lived  in  1839  and  received  pensions 32,925 

Army,  August  26,  1776 20,375 

Of  which  were  on  sick  list 3,600 

British  Army  August  26,  1776,  nearly 30,000 

American  Prisoners  taken  August  27,  1776 1,097 

American  Prisoners  taken  in   1776,  total,  held  in   New 

York  City,  of  whom  4,131  were  soldiers 10,000 

American  Prisoners,  total  during  war,  1776-1783,  held 

in  New  York  City 20,000 

Of  which  died  :  three-fourths 15,000 

From  Connecticut  papers  referring  to  Prison  ships : 
May,  1781 :  1,100  French  and  American  Prisoners  died 

last  winter 1,100 

May,   1782:     500  Prisoners  died  during  the  past  six 

months   500 

28 


PRISONS  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY 

The  Provost  or  Jail,  later  Hall  of  Records,  used  for  more 
notorious  prisoners. 

Sugar  House,  in  Liberty  Street,  adjoining  Middle  Dutch 
Church. 

Brick  church,  Beekman  Street  and  Park  Row,  later  site 
of  Potter  Building,  afterwards  used  as  hospital. 

North  Dutch  Church,  corner  William  and  Fulton  Streets, 
made  to  hold  2,000  prisoners.  Onderdonck  says  800. 

Middle  Dutch  Church,  east  side  Nassau  Street,  between 
Cedar  and  Liberty,  made  to  hold  3,000  prisoners. 

Kings  College  (Columbia  College),  at  end  of  (old)  Park 
Place,  used  for  a  short  time  only. 

City  Hall,  Nassau  and  Wall  Streets  (Sub-Treasury), 
afterwards  used  as  prison  for  whaleboatmen,  etc. 

Bridewell,  in  (City  Hall)  Park,  used  for  a  time  only. 

Quaker  Meeting  House,  present  Pearl  Street,  north  end 
Hague  Street,  afterwards  used  as  hospital. 

Presbyterian  Church,  Wall  Street,  nearly  opposite  end  of 
New  Street. 

Scotch  Church,  Cedar  Street,  south  side,  between  Nassau 
and  Broadway,  afterwards  used  as  hospital. 

French  Church,  Pine  Street,  north  corner  of  Nassau 
Street,  used  afterward  as  ordnance  store  house. 

Rhinelander  Sugarhouse,  corner  Duane  and  Rose  Streets. 


29 


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LONG     ISLAND 

ITS  EARLY  DAYS  AND  DEVELOPMENT 

Published   as  a  number  of  the   Eagle   Library  in    1914;  with  40  pen  and  ink 
sketches.      Size  8xii;   Paper  Wrapper;   pp.  96  with  General   Index. 

Price  35  cents  postpaid 


THE  INDIANS  OF  NEW  ENGLAND  AND 
NEW  NETHERLAND 

Published  August,   1918.    Size  6x9;  pp.   11,  with  Map;  Edition  limited  to  200 

numbered  copies. 

Price  $1.00  per  copy  postpaid 


BRUIJKLEEN    COLONIE 

(BOROUGH   OF   BROOKLYN) 
1638-1918 

Size  6x9.      Published  November,   1918;  pp.   12,  with  Map;   Edition  limited  to 
200  numbered  copies. 

Price  $1.00  per  copy  postpaid 


THE  FERRY  ROAD  ON   LONG   ISLAND 

Published  April  1919.     Size  7x10^;  pp.  40;  with  6  Illustrations  and  2  Maps; 
Edition  limited  to  300  numbered  copies. 

Price  $2.00  per  copy  postpaid 

ORDER    FROM 

EUGENE  L.  ARMBRUSTER 

263  ELDERT  STREET  BROOKLYN,  N.  Y. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 

J?ine  schedule:  25  cents  on  first  day  overdue 

50  cents  on  fourth  day  overdue 
One  dollar  on  seventh  day  overdue. 


10 


1979 

jAN  2  0 


16 

SANTA  BARBARf 
INTERUBRARY 

RETURNED  TO  UC33  I.L.L, 

JULV. 

SENT  ON  ILL 

OCT  2  4  1995 

U.  C.  BERKELEY 


973 


21-100m-12,'46(A2012sl6)4120 


Photomount 
Pamphlet 

Binder 
Gaylord  Bros. 

Makers 

Stockton,  Cant. 
fH.  IM».  21.  1908 


YD    12323 


586705 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


